Political violence
I exhort the Government and parliamentarians, if
they are serious about curbing political
violence preceding and following an election, to
make into law a bill that will shift the burden
of proof from the victim's family or political
party to the Government.
Presently, any act of violence against a
political figure or supporter is assumed NOT to
be political. The victim's family is left with
the burden to prove that the act was politically
motivated, an impossible burden of proof in
reality, because it is so easy for the
Government to dismiss it as otherwise, eg
witchcraft, personal feud.
This law would shift the burden of proof.
In effect the law would say: Within the period
of six months prior to an election and two
months after that election [for example], any
person who is well known to be politically
active and is injured/maimed/killed within that
period, will be AUTOMATICALLY PRESUMED to be
injured/maimed/killed because of his/her
political activities [opposite of current
state]. Unless strong evidence surfaced to prove
the contrary, the Government (ie Ministry of
Interior) is responsible for compensating the
victim's family in the amount of [$25,000 for
example] for the death of the person to violence
within this period.
I've noticed an interesting trend: Until now, it
used to be that "accidents" or "robberies" only
befell opposition figures. But now, it must be
either that the magic spell has lost its power
to protect CPP activists/supporters, or that the
ruling party has become more shrewd in
sacrificing a CPP person here and there in the
mix of every ten opposition figures
injured/maimed/killed. (To keep those nosy
foreigners guessing and confused!)
This law would resolve either scenario-be it an
opposition or a CPP individual, the burden is on
the Government to protect and compensate the
victim or his/her family.
- Theary Seng - Cambodian-American
Attorney - Washington, DC
Phnom
Penh Post, Issue 12/15, July 18 - 31, 2003
